US envoy Richard Holbrooke 'did' offer Radovan Karadzic immunity

Former US officials have supported claims that Richard Holbrooke, one of
America's most senior diplomats, offered Radovan Karadzic immunity from
prosecution during 1996 peace negotiations in Bosnia.

Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is pictured before appearing in court at the International Criminal Tribunal.Photo: AFP/Getty Images

By Bruno Waterfield in Brussels

8:11PM GMT 23 Mar 2009

Mr Holbrooke, who is now playing a key role in negotiating President Barack Obama's exit strategy from Afghanistan, has been dogged by claims that he gave the former Bosnian Serb leader an immunity deal during Clinton-era talks to bring peace to the former Yugoslavia.

He strenuously denies that any alleged agreement with Mr Karadzic.

But the allegation and a demand that Mr Holbrooke be called as a witness will be rehearsed once again as part of Mr Karadzic's defence against genocide and war crimes charges at UN tribunal hearings in The Hague next week.

Retired senior US state department officials confirmed that in July 1996 Mr Holbrooke, who served as President Bill Clinton's Balkans envoy, promised Mr Karadzic that he would not be prosecuted as part of wider peace deal requiring him to give up power.

"Holbrooke did the right thing and got the job done," said one.

The claim by unnamed diplomats is made in a new study of the war in the former Yugoslavia published by Purdue University in Indiana.

Mr Karadzic has insisted that Mr Holbrooke's promise means he is exempt from prosecution since his arrest, after more than a decade in hiding, last summer.

UN war crimes investigators have written to Washington asking for clarification in a move that could embarrass the new US administration.

Mr Holbrooke said in a statement: "No one in the US government ever promised anything, nor made a deal of any sort with Karadzic. In subsequent meetings, as a private citizen, I repeatedly urged officials in both the Clinton and Bush administrations to capture Karadzic."

A "status hearing" on Mr Karadzic's appeal and case will be heard in The Hague on April 2.